Easing Gaokao Restrictions: a New Year’s Gift?

A Chinese student is greeted by a relative after taking the annual college entrance examinations in Beijing, in a photo taken in 2010.

Major Chinese cities in recent days rolled out plans to loosen restrictions on gaokao, the famously competitive college entrance exams for a nation that treasures education, to meet a New Year’s Eve deadline set by the central government. But they might not be as far-reaching as critics had hoped.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, set the deadline in an effort to level the playing field for getting into good schools by smoothing the path for the children of migrant workers. Students without a local hukou — the registration of residence that migrant workers generally lack, denying them local benefits — have to go back to their hometowns to take the gaokao. That puts them at a disadvantage, because elite schools in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai normally give preference to local students.

While critics of the existing gaokao restrictions say they deny some of China’s highest potential students access to education, the limits are welcomed by some local hukou-possessing residents who believe the gaokao system that’s already competitive enough presents their children with nearly insurmountable odds.

The move aims at “ensuring the education rights of the children of migrant workers,” and is “crucial to maintaining social harmony,” the State Council said in an August statement.

Beijing, where nearly 37% residents don’t have a local hukou, according to the Bejing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, posted its plan on the website of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education on Sunday. But while its plan offers a loosening of the rules, it falls short of offering students a shot at the gaokao.

Starting this year, children of migrant workers have addition access to education if their parents have had full-time jobs for three years and have contributed social insurance for three consecutive years. The students must have completed three-year middle school study in Beijing. But that qualifies them only for exams for secondary vocational schools.

In 2014, they get additional access but still fall short of the full entry the local gaokao offers. If the parents have full-time job for six years and have contributed social insurance for six consecutive years, and their children have completed three-year high school study in Beijing, the children can take exams for higher vocational schools. Kids who want to pursue higher education in Beijing can apply for adult education, self-taught higher education and long-distance colleges.

“It is very difficult to effectively balance between the interests of students with and without a Beijing hukou,” the Beijing education commission said in the statement in an attempt to explain the cautious and gradual nature of the plan.

Beijing’s provisional plan will likely fall short of the hopes of migrant workers, the state-run Xinhua news agency said via its official account on the Sina Weibo microblog service. “The excuse of disturbing educational order” to reach a compromise, the post said, “contradicts the goal of enhancing social justice.”

Southern Guangdong province took a similar approach, though officials there seemed somewhat more determined to free up educational resources.

Beginning this year, the province — where more than a quarter of its residents lack a hukou — will guarantee that the children of what it calls “high tech” skilled workers will gain credits toward taking the gaokao. Beginning in 2016, students who have completed three years of high school study in Guangdong are eligible for the gaokao if their parents have full-time jobs for over three years and have contributed social insurance for a total of more than three years, according to Xinhua.

Shanghai decided to connect its gaokao regulations to its residency management system and is still seeking public opinions, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission said on its website on Sunday. From 2014, children of qualified residents can take the gaokao in Shanghai.

Applicants of the qualifying residents have to submit copies of their diploma, employment contracts showing more than one year of work or evidence of making investments or starting a business, and contributing to urban social insurance, according to a statement about the resident posted on the central government website on Nov. 22. Authorities will evaluate the applicants’ qualifications based on a residency credit system, but the statement didn’t specify how many credits are required to qualify for such residency.

If the conditions set by the developed areas seem daunting to some parents, there are indeed some places making sweeter offers.

Eastern Jiangsu province said beginning 2013, all students who are enrolled in Jiangsu’s grades one through nine can take gaokao locally. Similarly, central Henan province said late Monday night that beginning in 2013, as long as one of the parents has a full-time job and the children are enrolled in local high schools, the students can take the university entrance exam locally.

Many in the online community on Sina Weibo weren’t impressed with the plans offered by the most economically developed area. “Anyone with some common sense will know that it won’t be a good idea to take gaokao at Henan, where the competition is intense due to big number of students and high admittance thresholds,” said one poster. “There’re not many good universities in Henan and few universities outside Henan will enroll students from there.”

Supporters of the plans unveiled by Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong believe conditional opening up of the gaokao is more feasible than a complete freeing up that could squeeze educational resources for residents with a local hukou.

“Look how crowded Beijing and Shanghai are already. How many graduates from the cities will eventually leave there?” said one person.

Part of the problem, according to critics, is that true gaokao reform isn’t possible without hukou reform, a topic that appears to be gaining steam.

“The issues surrounding gaokao exist because of the hukou system…thus we should take timely measures to carry out reforms outside the educational system,” said Wang Xuming, the former spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, in an article in the 21st Century Business Herald on Monday.

Signs have emerged that China’s top officials feel the urgency to reform its hukou system, which dates back to the Maoist era, with the latest coming from Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

“In order to push forward urbanization, we must take migrant rural workers and gradually change them into urban residents. This requires that we push forward household registration reform,” Mr. Li, who is expected to become China’s next premier in March, said in a statement posted on the central government website late December.

However, it remains to be seen how fast the changes will come — if they come at all.

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